Jo Dee Messina kicked off the drive towards BURN, the follow-up to her
double-platinum I'M ALRIGHT, last night burning the set at Franklin's Factory that was broadcast live as CMT's acclaimed "All Access" concert series. In addition to revisiting the songs that have made her Billboard's Most Played Country Female of 1999 ("I'm Alright," "Bye, Bye," "Lesson in Leavin'," and "Stand Beside Me"), Messina gave fans a taste of her new album. BURN: When introducing the final song of the evening -- a song by Australia's own high energy vocal firebrand Tina Arena -- Messina offered this insight, "When we started working on this album two years ago, we found a song that became the central thing and it was a song we ended up building the album around. It's a song that says whatever you want to be -- a doctor, a poet, a fireman, whatever it is, I support you 110%. But when it comes to you and me, there's just one thing I want: I want you to burn."

ON FIRE:
Messina took that song literally. As the band leaned into swelling verse and chorus, flames shot up between Messina and the band...casting an incredible glow on both the musicians and the woman who is the reigning CMA Horizon Award winner. Adding both drama and a warmth to what had already been an incendiary live performance, it was the kind of little touches that Messina relishes.

SHE's GOT SOLE:
It was the zipper that was a problem! Two stylists spent a frantic
morning trying to get a zipper replaced on a pair of satin Anna Sui ankle boots with large rhinestone heels that were purchased to compliment her first outfit. Seemed the teeth didn't line up properly -- and literally they'd been to every shoe repair place in town unable to find someone who could do the very difficult replacement (working with fabric is harder than leather) in time. Finally one cobbler realized the mental cost to Jo Dee of having to scrap an entire outfit that was slated for half the show -- and stopped everything
the shop was doing to make it happen. In addition to a nice tip, tickets to the taping were thrown in to say "thanks."

THE CLOTHES: (SINCE IT'S THE THING A LOT OF PEOPLE WANNA KNOW)
Okay, since we're talking about shoes, we might as well talk about clothes. Jo Dee's first outfit was a Marc Bouwer silk knit jumpsuit that had a rhinestone sun burst at the solar plexus. Bouwer created a special rhinestone low slung hip belt to compliment the ensemble -- and, of course, Jo Dee wore the above mentioned Anna Sui square toed boots, For "Bring On The Rain," she wore a white thin-strapped top that pooled into a white evening skirt by Randolph Duke. While simple in design, the body-hugging dress created drama in its spare design that was selected for the way it underscored the same stark quality of the arrangement. And finally, there was a skin colored pair of Marc Bouwer pants and top that were covered with clear crystals. Designed to catch and throw the lights on stage, it made Jo Dee appear to literally be made of light during the show's final moments.

BRING ON THE MOPS:
In the days prior to the show, Messina had been talking about the special extra touches that being involved in the production allowed her. To that end, they pumped over 800 gallons of water onto the stage to create the rain that fell while Messina sang the moving "Bring On The Rain." Like the fire, the effect ran the length of the stage -- and literally made it appear that there was rainfall throughout the song. A lovely effect, it added a softness and environmental casting that is hard to create live.

THOUGH NO MCGRAW, THERE WERE GUESTS:
Tim McGraw was unable to appear with Messina to add his vocal part for "Bring On The Rain," but that doesn't mean Messina didn't have friends on hand for the big night. Not only was her family and professional team present, but the Holliston, Massachuesetts-born singer extended her hand to someone else who'd played a role in her career: Phil Vasser. The man, who wrote both "Bye, Bye'" and "I'm Alright," joined Messina for the song that returned her to the country radio charts in glory -- and the two shared a celebratory "Bye, Bye" before Messina turned the stage over to her friend for "Another Day In Paradise" from his brand new record.

HIT ME
In the month of June alone, www.JoDeeMessina.com had over 1.6 million hits. That's nearly as many people as copies of I'm Alright sold. And with BURN about to hit stores next Tuesday, one can only wonder what the tally for July is going to be like. Hit the site and see what all the fuss is about.

Holly Gleason
Joe's Garage

video clips

[ burn ]
[ bring on the rain ]

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[ slide show ]